Cold cash: Use your refrigerator wisely to keep electricity bills in line

Thursday

Apr 29, 2010 at 12:01 AMApr 29, 2010 at 6:15 PM

Your refrigerator uses more electricity than any other appliance in your house (assuming you’re not running a pool filter). An average fridge in the U.S. uses about $90 a year in electricity — that’s twice as much as the dishwasher and five times more than the television. So you want to do what you can to make that refrigerator run efficiently.

Wynne Everett

Your refrigerator uses more electricity than any other appliance in your house (assuming you’re not running a pool filter). An average fridge in the U.S. uses about $90 a year in electricity — that’s twice as much as the dishwasher and five times more than the television. So you want to do what you can to make that refrigerator run efficiently. Consider these tips from the U.S. Department of Energy:

Control the moisture. Moisture causes frost buildup, which makes your fridge run less efficiently. Defrost regularly and look for models with automatic moisture control. Never let the frost layer inside your refrigerator get more than 1/4-inch thick. ­­

Maintain the right temperatures. Keep the temperature at 37 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit in the main compartment. Keep the freezer at 5 degrees.

Make sure the door seal is tight. Test this by closing the door over a dollar bill so it’s half in and half out of the refrigerator. If you can easily pull the bill out of the closed door, you might need a new door seal.

Keep your freezer as full as possible. An empty space requires more energy to keep cold than a full one.
Leave warm food out. Don’t put leftovers into the fridge when they’re hot. Let them cool first.

Out with the old. If you get a new fridge, resist the temptation to keep using your old refrigerator in the garage or basement as a backup — you’ll just waste all the savings you found with your new efficient refrigerator.

Consider investing in a new refrigerator. New models that meet the Energy Star standards use 20 percent less electricity than their non-Energy Star counterparts and 40 percent less than conventional models sold in 2001.

Cover and wrap all the food in your fridge. Uncovered food evaporates moisture into the refrigerator, contributing to the moisture problem.